BOROUGH OF POOLE
CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE
6 MARCH2012
The Meeting commenced at 6:00pm and concluded at 9.00pm
Present:
Councillor Mrs Moore (Chairman)
Councillor MissCarpenter (Vice-Chairman)
Councillors Chandler (Substitute for Councillor Wilkins), Clements (Substitute for Councillor Brooke),Mrs Evans, Mrs Le Poidevin, Potter andMrs Slade.
Also in attendance:
Councillor Mrs Walton, Portfolio Holder with responsibility for Children, Families and Young People.
Jack Matthews, Poole Member of the UK Youth Parliament.
Maria Vinney, Poole’s Old Town First School’s Head Teacher.
Azhar Mungar and Varrie Young, Poole High School Students
Members of the public present: 0
The Chairman introduced and welcomed the newly elected Poole Member of the UK Youth Parliament to the Committee.
CYP72.12APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Brooke (Councillor Clements substituted), Councillor Wilkins (Councillor Chandler substituted), Mrs H. Warren – Parent Governor Representative and Mr. K. Newman – Diocesan Representative.
CYP73.12MINUTES
RESOLVEDthat the Minutes of the Meeting of the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 24 January2012, having been previously circulated, be taken as read and confirmed and signed by the Chairman.
CYP74.12DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
None
CYP75.12MUSIC, ARTS, PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SPORT (MAPS)
The Head of Children’s Services Strategy, Quality and Improvementintroduced the Committee to the Head Teacher of Poole’s Old Town First School, the Poole High School Students and the Music, Arts, Physical Education and School Sport (MAPS) Team’s PE and Arts Adviser and gave an overview of the Service provided by theMAPS Team.
The Team provided the MAPS Service across Bournemouth and Poole and had three Educational Strategies to supportchildren and young people, to achieve their full potential across Poole and Bournemouth. The Strategies were noted as follows:
- Physical Education(PE), School Sports, and Physical Activity
- Music
- Arts and Learning
The MAPS PE and Arts Adviser advised the Committeethat Poole’s Old Town First School had been involved with auniqueconsortium of arts and cultural organisations and schools in Bournemouth and Poole, known as the ‘Cultural Hub’.The Cultural Hub Consortiumworked together to create inspirational learning opportunities for young people.Originally the Cultural Hub Programme wasa pilotscheme funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport(DCMS), and was managed by the Arts Council England and the Museums and Libraries Council.Since Sept 2009, this Partnership hadbeen self-funded by the Partners involved and was facilitated by the Wave Arts Education Agency.
The Head Teacher at Poole’s Old Town First School advised the Committee that the School was very passionate about the arts, and that its involvement with the Cultural Hub had led to a positive impact on the Children. A number of the projects undertaken were outlined, which included the following:
- Early Years Theatre/Puppetry Programme - hand-made puppets were created by the School’s Year 1 Pupils (age 5/6 years), as part of the ‘Hare and the Tortoise’ Cultural Hub Schools Project. The puppets were inspired by a Puppet Master Class led by Marc Parrett, Founder of Stuff and Nonsense Theatre Company, and used in the Sports Day Exhibition at the ‘Lighthouse’, Poole’s Centre for the Arts. The puppets helped the Children explore storytelling, creating characters and performances. All Teachers from the School’s other Year Groups were invited to attend and get involved, to encourage creativity in other projects.
- Music Making – This Project enabled all children, including those where English was not their first language, to communicate and participate with ease through the use of music.
- Drumming Day – A project that enabled the Children to bang drums, understand about noise, rhythm and working as a group.
The MAPS PE and Arts Adviser advised the Committee that an event known as the ‘Creative Careers Festival’ was held on 3 February 2012 at the ‘Lighthouse’, Poole’s Centre for the Arts. It engaged, inspired and raised the aspirations and participation of young people aged 13-18years, across Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole.
The two Students from Poole High School advised the Committee that the Festival had a number of stalls, promotingthe arts and cultural opportunities available locally,for young people and emerging artists. There were a number of creative workshops in; performing arts, music and visual arts, and talks undertaken by industry professionals, including question and answers sessions.One of the creative workshops included a class with an actress, which taught students how to convey words through movement and acting. There were also three professionals involved in the media of fine art, acting/play production and music directing.Various progression routes were highlighted for training and employment in the creative industries, which enabled young people to meet and network with; key artsorganisations, artists, and colleges.One of the Students advised that, whilst his career plan was to become a doctor, he felt the Festival had given him more confidence and hoped participating in some of the classes would give him a competitive edge over other students when applying to medical school, and would set him apart from other students’ applications.
The Head of Children’s Services Strategy, Quality and Improvement outlined Section 6 of the Report drawing Members attention to the success stories within the three Strategies including SoundStorm, which had led to the development of the new Music Strategy
In response to Members’ questions the Committee was advised that there were 3 Officers within the Team and the costs were shared between Bournemouth and Poole. The Team encouraged all schools’ participation and focused on the needs of children and young people, whilst ensuring all students had access. The MAPS Team had a 3 stage plan to provide opportunities in music, after school programmes and local community projects. The Department for Education had ended its PE and Sports Strategy, but the Coalition Government wasdeveloping a new strategy that would continue to provide two hours a week of PE and sport, but encourage more competitive sportsand give schools the freedom to organise sports themselves, rather than imposing a bureaucratic system for them to follow. Schools like St. Aldhelm’s Academy were undertaking inter-school competitions and county wide events. ‘Soundstorm’ was Poole and Bournemouth's Arts Development Agency and was led by Dan Somogyi.It was founded in 2002 to develop innovative, exciting and diverse musical opportunities for young people and the wider community in the Region.
The Committee thankedMaria Vinney, Poole’s Old Town First School’s Head Teacher, Azhar Mungar and Varrie Young, Poole High School Students and the MAPS Officers for their presentation.
RECOMMENDED that the three Strategies and the successful outcomes achieved by the MAPS Team and its Partners be noted.
FOR – UNANIMOUS
CYP76.12INTRODUCTION OF THE MEMBER AND DEPUTY MEMBER OF POOLE’S UK YOUTH PARLIAMENT
The newly elected Poole Member of the UK Youth Parliament, Jack Matthews provided the Committee an overview of the Poole Youth Parliament Elections, which took place on 27 January 2012. It was noted that 128 young people voted and 12 candidates stoodfor election. Since being elected he had met Mr. Conor Burnsthe MP for West Bournemouth and Mrs. Annette Brooke the MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole, and had attended the Shadow Board Residential. He mapped out a timeline of what the Poole Members of the UK Youth Parliament wanted to achieve this term, and its three Priorities, which were noted as follows:
- Anti-Bullying
An anti-bullying alliance had been set up; this was a student run body working within schools. It was hoped that this would be achieved in all schools and would be monitored by Members of the UK Youth Parliament.
- Education/Employment
Work with the Council and Voluntary Organisations was underway to try and
increase the number of youth volunteers.
- Affordable Leisure Activities
Inquiries were underway with various water-sport organisations to try and negotiate reduced rates,to enablemore affordablesailing and water-sport activities for children and young people, vialoyalty or discount type schemes.
Some Members suggested that Rockley Sailing Club and the Hamworthy Outdoor Education Centre be contacted as both had offered good outdoor and water opportunities and concessionary rates.
The Committee commented on the Poole Youth Parliament Elections and the high calibre of the candidates that stoodfor election. The Strategic Director (Children’s Services) reassured the Committee and Jack Matthews that the work undertaken at the Shadow Board Residential had been discussed at the Children’s Trust Board and would be shared.
RECOMMENDED that Jack Matthews the recently elected Poole Member of the UK Youth Parliamentbe congratulated and thanked for his presentation and contribution to the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
CYP77.12FAMILY INFORMATION DIRECTORY
The Head of Children’s Services Integrated Services provided the Committee with an overview of the Family Information Directory(FID) and introduced the Information and Communication Manager and the 0-5 Senior Manager. The FID Team were locatedwithin Children’s Services Integrated Services, based at the Dolphin Centre, Poole.
The Information and Communication Manager advised the Committee that the FID was not a system that was able to be purchased of the shelf. This was a colourful directory that was designed to help with ‘anything and everything’ for parents, grandparents, carers and practitionerson family life. It was a free, confidential and impartial information service that provided comprehensive and up-to-date information on local organisations, services, childcare, activities and events relating to children and young people between the ages 0 to 19 years and up to 24 years for those with a disability.
The Committee was given a demonstration on how to use the FID and three scenarios were used, to highlight how to access the FID to obtain the information required to meet each of the Scenarios’ specific needs. It was noted that each screen was in the same format, which included hyperlinks, facet searches and the ability to create a shortlist of items of interest, which could be printed off. The Council’s Customer Services Team used the FID to assist them in directing people to the correct Service Units and Partners.
Practitioners used the FID to increase awareness on the types of services and support available and the referral pathways. Some of the areas of information referred to were noted as follows;
- Food Banks
- Children’s Centres
- Dorset Reclaim
- Free Childcare Provision
In response to Members’ questions the Committee was advised that, all calls were handled using a 3 stage system:
- Self Service Enquiry; these calls were dealt with by the Customer Service Team.
- Call Back; calls referred to the Outreach Team,when additional support was required.
- Complex Needs; calls referred to the Outreach Team in order that 1:1 support was provided.
The Poole Member of the UK Youth Parliament enquired, “How did the Council know whether or not the Family Information Directory (FID) was being used?” In response the Committee was advised that access information on the FID had been obtained from consultationswith internal and external partners and viathe Website’sStatisticsand Analytics. Information obtained form the Website’sStatisticsand Analyticshighlighted that the biggest hits on the Site related to toddler groups, however only 50% of those went into the System to obtain further information. As a result the Toddler Groups Profile was raised.
In response to Members’ questions the Committee was advised that other information network sites including the ‘Xchange’(interactive news and information network for disabled children and their families, across Dorset, Bournemouth and Poole) were to be linked to the FID.The FID relied on all of its Partners to take responsibility for updating the information provided.It was noted that whilst the majority of the FID users had accessed the Site via ‘Google’ work was underway to provide better linksdirectly from the Council’s main ‘Borough of Poole’ Website. In the Summer the FID Website would be advertising ‘Summer Sizzler’, to advise of all Summer activities. Health Visitors, Schools and Parent/Carer Groups had received presentations on the FID and that GP’s were being updated. Direct contact was also being made with all new parents, using the information provide from the registration of births, to advise them of the FID. The Council was the first Public Sector to join the new ‘Family Friendly Scheme’ launched by the Family and Parenting Institute. The Schemeworked with businesses and public services to enable the UK to be a more family friendly place for families, and brought local and national organisations together with families, to help them better understand their customers and meet their expectations. Other companies that had joined the Scheme included; Barclays, Gatwick, British Telecom (BT) andEasyJet.
RECOMMENDED that Members note the Role of the Family Information Directory (FID)to deliver accessible Children’s Services within Poole, as part of the overall aim of improving outcomes for all children and young people.
FOR - UNANIMOUS
CYP78.12BOURNEMOUTH AND POOLE YOUTH OFFENDING SERVICE
(Note: Councillor Mrs Le Poidevin declared a personal interest as her husband worked as a volunteer for the Youth Offending Services.)
The Strategic Director (Children’s Services) gave a brief overview of the Services but did not go into detail as the Report and its Appendices had illustrated the Youth Offending Service’sjourney, and introduced the Bournemouth and Poole Youth Offending Service Manager. The Committee was advised that the focus of this Meeting was to highlight where the Service was now, and how it got there over the past 18 months. The Report had not been considered by this Committee at an earlier stage due to the complex Human Resource processesthat had to be undertaken.
The Bournemouth and Poole Youth Offending Service Manager gavethe analogy of; climbing a mountain via a long and winding path with obstacles along the way, to best describe the journey the Service had taken, and whilst there remained work to do, the ‘summit’ was now in sight. The key points noted were as follows:
The Challenge
•Improvement in its management of
–Safeguarding
–Risk
–Re-offending
•Keeping children, young people and the public safe and free from harm
•Preventing children and young people from re-offending
The Journey
•Service re-structure
–Increase in qualified and experienced staff
–Service redesign to match the journey of the Service User; two specific teams were introduced: a ‘Pre-Court’ Team and a ‘Post-Court’ Team
•Accommodation move
–Space to see young people
–Space to meet as a team and learn
–Purpose built, professional office space
•Staff learning and development
–Training
–Coaching
–Peer support
–Supervision
•Quality assurance systems
–Feedback to staff
–Chart the distance travelled
–Identify areas for improvement
•External Scrutiny
–Youth Justice Board
–Independent consultants
–Audit
–Local Safeguarding Children Board
–Strategic Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA)
–Poole and BournemouthOverview and ScrutinyCommittees Poole and Bournemouth
–Performance Improvement Board
–Youth Offending Service Board
•Twists and Turns
–Complex HR issues
•Multiple and lengthy investigations
•Redundancies
–Budget
•Significant overspend 2010/11
•Approx 18% reduction2011/12
•Approx 6% reduction planned 2012/13
–Culture of the organisation
•Trust, communication, self preservation, lies
Progress
•6 recommendations had led to 98 separate actions
What’s Next?
•Re-inspection week commencing 21May 2012
•Private feedback to the Youth Offending Service Board week commencing 11th June 2012
•Publication of the Inspection Report week commencing 27th August 2012
•Improvement Plan to be submitted toHer Majesty’s Inspectorate (HMI) week commencing 24th September 2012
In response to Members’ questions the Committee was advised that approximately 38 cases would be reviewed during the re-inspection. It was difficult to predict the outcome of the next inspection, had the recent inspection been published it would have shown a huge improvement. There were positive outcomes in terms of the prevention of individuals re-offending; however, it was not possible to provide evidential data to back this up due to insufficient recording of information prior April 2011. The Youth Offending Service Board and the HMI would continue to monitor outcomes. The Service now had the equivalent of 32 full time staff, of which 3 were operational managers. The number of cases a person in the Team would work with was dependant on the Individual’s Case History, but would be between 8 to 12 cases. The Team had to adhere to the National Standards in respect to the number of times an individual had to be seen each week. The implementation of the Police and Crime Commissionerwould have an impact on the Team as funds would be withdrawn from this Service. It was noted that the language used to demonstrate the quality of the Service was very different to that used by Ofsted i.e. a score of 95% equalled minimal improvement and a score of 90% equalled moderate improvement.
The Portfolio Holder with responsibility for Children, Families and Young Children advised the Committee that having visited the Bournemouth and Poole Youth Offending Service she felt there was now strong leadership and enthusiastic staff and that this combination would equal positive outcomes.